The exuberance of chickadees
Chickadees are constant companions in our backyard throughout the winter. These hardy little balls of feather and fluff chitter away as they fly from tree to feeder and back.
Even on the coldest days, they energetically continue their conversations and activities. With winter hinting, somewhat reluctantly, at giving way to spring here in the Foothills, I have taken a few opportunities to photograph these little birds from our second story deck.
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Who’s coming for tea?
We found this beautiful teacup and saucer reimagined as a bird feeder at the Winter in the Woods Festival in Bragg Creek a couple of weeks ago. Desirée loved it at first sight and I quickly got onboard imagining little birds perched along the lip.
As soon as we hung it off the roof above our second floor deck, the chickadees and nuthatches began landing and sifting through the cup for their preferred seeds. We have several of each of these birds that overwinter, It is fun – and a little magical – to watch them flying through trees, perching on branches and chasing each other around.
With a little sunshine these Red-breasted nuthatches looked amazing as it came back and forth to the teacup. Photographing them was great and I was happy with the images I came away with.
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Enjoying winter with the chickadees
After a nice break over Christmas where I was outside playing with my kids and walking along the river, I’m enjoying winter now. Following one of the cold snaps, the chickadees that visit our backyard seemed happy to be flying around in the -5°C weather after -30°C the day before. They were flitting back and forth between the feeder and the tree beside our second floor deck which allowed me to practice capturing their launches off of the evergreen branches.
The mid-flight images were not successful in the least (not shown – nothing worthwhile…) but I’m trying different strategies as me and auto focus are not quick enough to track their small bodies in their darting, quick flight movements. For now, I was happy to spend some time with these little birds in my backyard while the sun drifted in and out of the clouds.
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Sharing this post is welcomed - but please do not use individual images without permission from Christopher Martin in advance.
Chickadee at its feeder
One of the backyard’s Black-capped chickadees as it landed on their feeder. I liked the motion in the wings and the grip on the post by its feet.
Christopher Martin Photography 